NHL Blog Beat – May 3, 2012.

Torres and NHLPA to appear his suspension, dating habits of Canadians during the playoffs, how playing without your best player affects a team, questioning the Canucks handling of Alain Vigneault’s status, a look at what the Red Wings must fix, fewer Europeans are coming to the NHL, wondering where Blues fans are emotionally right now, and some of the best pranks and jokes of Marc Bergevin.

BACKHAND SHELF: Justin Bourne examines how losing your best player can affect a team.

CANUCKS CORNER: Tom Benjamin not only doesn’t believe the Canucks should fire Alain Vigneault (whom he rightly calls the best coach in Canucks history), but doesn’t deserved to have his fate left undecided until GM Mike Gillis consults with the team’s owner. I agree. If Gillis wants Vigneault back, it should be his call, not the owner’s.

PUCK DRUNK LOVE: David Rogers on the troubling decline in the numbers of European players in the NHL, and the reasons behind this trend. Yes, the KHL is certainly a factor, especially for Russian players. The xenophobes among North American fans won’t care, but an NHL without the very best players from around the world is a lesser league.

ST. LOUIS GAME TIME: Heading into Game Three against the Kings, facing a “must-win” scenario, Brad Lee looks at where Blues fans may be emotionally right now. And if the Blues lose tonight and fall behind 0-3, deeply pessimistic will be the overall consensus.

GREATEST HOCKEY LEGENDS: Joe Pelletier looks at the best pranks and one-liners from the playing days of new Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin.

1 Comment

gameon63
on May 4, 2012 at 7:05 am

i thought Vigneault was right when he said Torres’s hit was closer to a hockey play than what Duncan Keith did to Daniel Sedin. if Torres gets 25 games for that then why didn’t Brown even get a penalty for virtually the same hit on Henrik Sedin? ultimately i think Shanahan needed to go nuclear on somebody to get the players attention and Raffi Torres was just an easy target and using the excuse that he’s a repeat offender is a crock. if Shanahan really wants to make a statement then throw the book at a “star” like Duncan Keith or Zdeno Chara when they obviously step over the line whether it’s their first offense or not. 5 games to Keith when he cost the Canucks the services of one of their top players for the first 3 games of the playoffs, games they lost due to a lack of goals was an absolute joke. Vancouver may have not lost only because they were without their top scorer but it certainly didn’t help. if the Canucks had been playing Chicago it would’ve definitely been to the Hawk’s advantage to take out Vancouver’s star player and the league can’t allow that.

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